What I include as an East Anglian Shed
Originally I was only really interested in the former GER sheds, but then realised that I needed to include the former M&GNJR sheds as well.
Therefore initially I defined it any shed that BR coded in the 30x , 31x and 32x series.
Later I decided that to complete things I should really include the former MR(LTS) sheds, so it became:-
Any shed that BR coded in the 30x , 31x 32x and 33x series.
I then realised that the former MR shed at Peterborough, Spital Bridge, which when transferred from the LMR to the ER in August 1950
and coded 35C as part of the New England Area was later moved into the Cambridge Area and coded 31F, so it had to be included, even when coded 35C.
BUT NOTE
I have only included data for Spital Bridge and the former MR(LTS) sheds since they became part of the ER.
New England shed at Peterborough has always been outside my definition of an East Anglian shed as have the Lincolnshire sheds.
The same principles have been used for the DMU allocations that are now being added.
Locomotive Classes
For the former LNER steam locomotives it wasn't a problem, I just simply used the LNER system.
However note I haven't bothered about subclasses so, for instance, the N7 entries aren't broken down into N7/1, N7/3 etc.
There are also instances where I have grouped different classes together, usually when they had a common numbering range and locos were rebuilt between the classes.
The following are examples of this:- B2 & B17, D15 & D16 and J67 & J69. I have continued to use the multiple class description even when only a single locomotive was allocated.
There are plenty of books out there to show which loco belonged to which class at any time. The Ian Allan published series The ABC of British Railways Locomotives can provide a snap shot at the date they were compiled,
whilst the volumes of the RCTS Green Bible and the assorted volumes of Yeadon say when the change happened.
The BR designed steam locomotives I've classified by BR & Power Classification & Wheel arrangement, such as BR 7MT 4-6-2, which seems reasonable enough.
The former LMS steam locomotives needed a bit more thought and I ended up by using the following description:-
Original company & Power Classification & Wheel arrangement & Designer & any other info required, so that would give, for instance, LMS 4MTT 2-6-4T Stanier 3cyl.
This is a bit of a mouthful, but I feel does what is required.
Classifying the various diesel locomotives though wasn't quite as straightforward. Several systems were used over the period covered in the pages and I've used
that which I believed current for the date of the allocation. If this confuses you, it did me for a bit, I have made a diesel classes through the years page
in an attempt to make it less unclear.
DMUs
There are many books out there which describe DMUs. The Ian Allan published series The ABC of British Railways Diesel Locomotives and Multiple Units can provide a snap shot at the date they were compiled. A Pictorial Record of British Railways Diesel Multiple Units by Brian Golding provides a lot of useful information including diagrams and photos of the units.
Many different builders were used for the various diesel mechanical units.
Those concerned with the units in East Anglia were:
| Builder | |
|---|---|
| BRCW | Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Works |
| Cra | Cravens Ltd |
| Derby | BR, Derby Carriage & Wagon Works |
| GRCW | Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company Ltd |
| Met Cam | Metropolitan Cammell |
| Park | Park Royal Vehicles Ltd |
| Wick | D Wickham & Co Ltd |
| W&M | Waggon und Maschinenbau GmbH |
In order to enable a single driver to control several units that were coupled together
a means of communicating the driver's instructions from the leading unit to the other units had to be used.
In the early days several different and incompatible systems were used.
To prevent incompatible systems being coupled a symbol was painted near the jumpers.
The system known as Blue Square became the BR standard.
| Coupling Codes | |
|---|---|
| B S | Blue Square |
| O S | Orange Star |
| Y D | Yellow Diamond | W&M | A W&M railbus can only connect to another W&M railbus |
Note that for simplicity I have used the later codes for the type of vehicle,
even if they weren't in use at the time of the summary.
| Type | |
|---|---|
| DRB | Diesel Railbus |
| DMBS | Driving Motor Brake Second |
| DMS | Driving Motor Second |
| DTCL | Driving Trailer Composite with Lavatory |
| DTSL | Driving Trailer Second with Lavatory |
| TS | Trailer Second |
| A * following a car number indicates that it is on loan to the shed. |
Locomotive Number
I have assumed that in general once a renumbering scheme had been announced, and implementation started, all the locomotives carried the new number.
I know that in reality this didn't happen, but it seemed the easiest way to tackle the situation.
The previously mentioned volumes of the RCTS Green Bible and the assorted volumes of Yeadon
can provide the dates for renumbering of the LNER locos, I'm not so sure about where to look for the ex-LMS renumbering, but it is quite likely that the BR Database web pages
will provide some answers, you just have to keep digging down, Classes, Steam, Grouped Company, Pre-Grouping or Group, Number Range and finally Loco Number. It all comes out in the end, but some pre-grouping companies aren't yet covered.
Diesel locomotive renumbering can be found in the previously mentioned BR Database web pages.
you just have to keep digging down, Classes, Diesel, Type, Number Range and finally Loco Number.
How the Steam Locomotive Allocations are shown
An extract from the Bury st Edmunds allocation page follows and is intended to serve to illustrate how I have decided to format the web pages.
The date of allocaton is shown in bold green.
The locomotive class and the quantity allocated is shown in bold.
The full number of the initial locomotive is shown in full, for subsequent locomotives only the last two digits are shown until there is an increase in the "hundreds" digit when the next number is again shown in full, but with a greater than usual gap between the numbers.
6 May 1950
D15 & D16 - 5
62503 08 66 62607 15
E4 - 2
62786 95
J15 - 3
65362 65420 42
J67 & J69 - 1
68497
F6 - 3
67236 37 38
End of extract
How the DMU Allocations are shown
An extract from the Cambridge allocation page follows and is intended to serve to illustrate how I have decided to format the web pages.
The date of allocaton is shown at the top of each of the listing segments in green.
The basic information on the DMUs follows.
A blank line separates different types of car.
The full number of the initial car is shown in full, for subsequent cars only the last two digits are shown until there is an increase in the "hundreds" digit when the next number is again shown in full, but with a greater than usual gap between the numbers.
A * following a car number indicates that it is on loan to the shed.
| 31 Dec 1958 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Builder | Type | Coupling | |
| Wick | Twin | DTCL | BS |
| E56170 71 72 73 74 | |||
| Derby | Twin | DTCL | YD |
| E79250 51 52 613 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 | |||
End of extract
